09:52 SG-HSI @EP0505<04662> - Announcement (2) Cash Settlement Amount = (Strike Level - Closing Level) x HK$1.00 x Board Lot 4,500 The Closing Level for determining the Cash Settlement Amount shall be the final settlement price for settling the Hang Seng Index May 2005 Futures Contracts. The Premium, Gearing, Effective Gearing and Implied Volatility values for the Warrants are based on the Issuer's own calculations and information and it should be noted that these values may not be comparable to similar information provided by other derivative warrant issuers due to the use of different pricing models. The price of the Warrants may change with market fluctuations. If, on the Expiry Date, the Cash Settlement Amount is positive, the Warrants will be automatically exercised (without any exercise notice being required to be delivered by the holders of the Warrants) and the Issuer will pay to the holders of the Warrants an amount calculated as described above less any exercise expenses. If, however, on the Expiry Date, the Cash Settlement Amount is zero or negative, the holder of the Warrants will lose the value of his investment. The Issuer and the Guarantor have appointed its affiliate, SG Securities (HK) Limited (Broker ID Number 9559), currently at 41/F, Edinburgh Tower, 15 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong, as the liquidity provider (the "Liquidity Provider") for the Warrants. Liquidity in the Warrants will be provided by the Liquidity Provider, as agent of the Issuer and the Guarantor, by responding to requests for bid and offer quotes. A request for a quote may be obtained by calling the following telephone number - (852) 2166 4270. The Liquidity Provider is a Stock Exchange participant and its conduct is therefore regulated by the Stock Exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission. In certain circumstances, the Issuer and the Guarantor may be the only party quoting bid and offers prices of the Warrants on the Stock Exchange. The Warrants constitute general unsecured contractual obligations of the Issuer and of no other person, and the guarantee dated 7 May, 2004 constitutes general unsecured contractual obligations of the Guarantor and of no other person, and if you purchase the Warrants you are relying upon the creditworthiness of the Issuer and the Guarantor and have no rights under the Warrants against the companies comprising the Index. Applications will be made to the Listing Committee of the Stock Exchange for the Listing of, and permission to deal in, the Warrants. The Issuer has been informed that consideration of such applications will go through the normal application procedure pursuant to the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Stock Exchange (the "Listing Rules") and no guarantee that such approvals will be granted can be given. If such permissions are granted, it is anticipated that dealings in the Warrants will commence on the Stock Exchange on or about the relevant Listing Date. If approval is, for whatever reason, not given for any one application for the listing of the Warrants, but approval is given for the others, the Issuer will proceed with the listing of those Warrants for which approval has been granted by the Stock Exchange. Copies of the English and Chinese base listing document dated 7 May, 2004 (which contains financial and other information relating to the Issuer and the Guarantor) and any addenda thereto and the English and Chinese supplemental listing documents each to be dated on or about the Issue Date (which contain details of each of the Warrants) required by the Listing Rules will be available during normal office hours from the Issue Date to the Expiry Date from the office of SG Securities (HK) Limited, currently at 41/F, Edinburgh Tower, 15 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong. The Guarantor is rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service Inc. and AA- by Standard and Poor's. Neither the Issuer nor the Guarantor are regulated by any of the bodies referred to in Rule 15A.13(2) or (3) of the Listing Rules. The Issuer is regulated by the Central Bank of the Netherlands Antilles and the Guarantor is regulated by, amongst others, the Commission Bancaire in France.